(1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the fabrication of integrated circuit devices, and more particularly, to a method to eliminate sub-threshold leakage current in sub-micron gate electrode structures of CMOS devices.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Recent developments in the design and manufacturing of semiconductor devices have extended the field for Very Large-Scale Integrated (VLSI) devices to Ultra Large-Scale Integrated (ULSI) devices. For ULSI devices the target device feature size is now in the micron and sub-micron range where there is development work taking place relating to deep sub-micron sizes that reach below 0.5 um. The attainment of the sharp reduction in device feature sizes has mainly been accomplished with gradual but significant advances in supporting technologies such as photolithography and improved etching techniques such as Reactive Ion Etching (RIE). These developments have been taking place concurrent with improvements in photo-imaging techniques and advancements in exposure methods and the wavelengths of the exposure sources that now reach into the Deep Ultra Violet range. Special techniques such as the application of special layers of material further improve focusing depth and sharpness of focus in creating images in for instance layers of photoresist that are applied to create interconnect lines, vias, contact openings and the like. These techniques are equally applied in the formation of for instance Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) devices.
The technique of creating complementary n-channel and p channel devices has long been known and applied in the semiconductor industry. The salient advantage of these devices is their low power usage due to the fact that two transistors are paired as complementary n-channel and p-channel transistors whereby in either logic state (on/off) of the device, one of the two transistors is off and negligible current is carried through this transistor. The logic elements of Complementary Metal Oxide devices drain significant amounts of current only at the time that these devices switch from one state to another state. Between these transitions the devices draw very little current resulting in low power dissipation for the CMOS device.
A typical n-channel transistor for a CMOS inverter is formed by first forming a p-region (also called tub or well) in the surface of an n-type silicon substrate. Referring to FIG. 1a, there is shown a cross section of a typical MOS transistor that is formed on the surface of a silicon substrate 10. A layer 12 of gate oxide is first formed over the surface of the substrate 10, this layer 12 of oxide serves as a stress relieve layer between the gate of the MOS transistor and the silicon surface. A layer of polysilicon or the like is deposited over the layer of gate oxide 12 and patterned and etched to form the structure 14 of the gate electrode. Source and drain regions (16 and 18 respectively) are then formed self-aligned with and adjacent to the gate electrode 14 by implanting of high-concentration n-type impurities into the surface of the silicon substrate 10. In the era of ULSI devices, the width of the gate has been reduced to below 0.5 um, the distance between the source and the drain region (the channel length) is correspondingly reduced. This sharp reduction in channel length however leads to a significant increase in the concentration of the electro-magnetic field close to drain region 18 where this drain region interfaces with the underlying silicon substrate 10. This sharp increase may lead to leakage current between the drain region 18 and the surrounding silicon of substrate 10. In addition, hot carriers can be created in the silicon of the substrate 10 and can gain sufficient energy to penetrate into the layer of gate oxide 12 underneath the gate structure 14 resulting in impacting the threshold voltage between the gate 14 and the substrate 10. This may lead to current flow between the gate electrode 14 and the underlying substrate 10.
To counteract the increase in the electric field, the art has implemented the formation of Lightly Doped Drain (LDD) regions 20 and 22 that are shown in FIG. 1b. The LDD regions 20 and 22 form double off-set regions whereby the source and drain regions now contain high n-type impurity concentrations 16 and 18 and low n-type impurity concentrations 20 and 22. The principle objective of the LDD regions 20 and 22 is to offset the high concentration of the electric field around the drain region 18. The regions are symmetrically formed around the gate electrode and consist of low-concentrations of n-type impurities 20 and 22. The profile of the implanted regions 20 and 22 indicates that the impurity concentrations in the p-n junction change gradually thereby extending to the source and drain regions to attenuate the electric field.
With the creation of the LDD regions 20 and 22, the breakdown between the drain region 18 and the channel region between the source and the drain region has been eliminated. Hot carriers that could effect the threshold voltage are thereby also eliminated. However, the low concentration regions 20 and 22 form high resistivity regions by their nature of being low concentration impurity regions. Since the current flows between the source and drain regions, the regions 20 and 22 are now parasitic resistances that are connected in series between the source and the drain regions. This lowers the drain current and the n-resistance performance of the transistor thereby reducing the performance of the device. Sidewalls 24 and 26 of the gate electrode structure 14 that have been formed on the surfaces of the low-concentration n-source and drain regions further emphasizing this effect. The high electric field that is in effect around the drain region 18 generates hot carriers, some of these carriers may be injected into the lower portion of the sidewall 26 of the drain region 18. The region of the silicon surface of the n-type impurity 22 becomes depleted of carriers due to the electric field that is created by the hot carriers that have become trapped in the underlying layer of gate oxide 12. This results in an increase of the threshold voltage of the transistor thereby having a negative effect on the drain characteristics and ultimately on the reliability of the transistor.
The above indicated problems in the fabrication of LDD CMOS transistors leads to a requirement for alternate methods of creating these devices, methods that counteract the creation of hot carriers and the resulting parasitic resistance. This requirement takes on increased urgency for devices with micron and sub-micron device features where the impact of leakage current is only further emphasized.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,837,571 (Pathak) shows a process for forming FET with multiple dopant I/I and an 0.sub.2 I/I to change the S/D dopant profiles.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,637 (Varker et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 5,488,004 (Yang), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,712,173 (Liu et al.) show SOI devices with 0.sub.2 I/I's.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,772,927 (Saito et al.) teaches an 0.sub.2 I/I into S/D regions.